Comments, comments, comments. I had my first proper one on this blog today which was quite cool. It would be even better if it wasn’t spam. Yes, my first comment was spam. At least Askimet caught it. But come on people. I don’t bite, unlike the venus fly trap. Please do comment nice things 🙂 Or I may be inclined to turn my anti-spam device on you. Its great, I’ll cover it in another post at some stage. But yay first comment!!! (y) Boo!!!! It was spam (n)

Well I updated tonight and I thought I should post a quick heads up about this… there appears to be a slight bug in the update. I edited the albums of two artists tonight as I was trying to tidy iTunes up and then wanted them synced to my iPhone. The issue? It can’t find them to be synced to my phone. The answer? Put them in another playlist, which isn’t ideal but does help move them to my phone which is what I wanted to achieve. Provided I hear nothing else I shall enquire at my local apple store next time I am in the vicinity 🙂

on another note, Twitter is also failing tonight as I went to set up thedatafry’s twitter account, I did however get thanked for noticing that fail which is good 🙂

on yet another note, Facebook is being a bit weird. It keeps muddling all the posts up.

General internet fail today. Not good

The Apple app review process is a long, secretive drawn out affair – the bain of many developers out there who write apps for the app store.

Inconsistency – Apple have stated before that just because they allowed it for one app doesn’t mean they’ll allow it for another. Theres great examples of these – apps with splash screens, some have them while others don’t are rejected for having them. Developers have brought that up before and been told its the way the system works. Or using the names of other apps, some can get away with it with other can’t.

And preference is given to bigger companies then to the lonely one person development company who submits similar or even better quality apps. With the big companies getting more favourable treatment this discourages smaller developers from submitting apps. Not only does this go against them but it goes against people who purchase iPhones and iPods as they receive a smaller choice of app. This also monopolises the apps store for the bigger companies allowing them to charge more putting cash in their pockets yet deriving them of an income.

The reviewal process takes way to long for even the smallest of changes it encourages developers to save updates for bigger issues which means that the user isn’t receiving as good an experience as they could be. This is particularly noticeable with the release of the iPhone 4 and its new display, there is no option for having purely graphical updates pushed through quickly and these go through the same length of review as a much larger update would that changed the entire way the program was written. Surely it would be better if they gave developers a “graphics only” update option for quicker releases, encouraging the release of new graphics to make use of the much hailed retina display.

Its very vague about why apps have been rejected, developers receive an email telling them that it has been rejected but it often doesn’t state why or how the app could be improved. Developers often get a note saying that the Human Interface Guidelines (HIGs) have been breached but not exactly how or why. This doesn’t encourage the developer to make the changes as they are at a loss as to how to improve their app. A classic example widely circulated on the net is that of the app which was rejected because

we have determined that this application contains minimal user functionality and will not be appropriate for the App Store

What was its offence that warranted denial to the app store? To quack like a duck (quack quack 😛 ). Seriously. Thats all fine and great except… what is minimal user functionality when its at home? Apparently it is when the app has no real purpose or very few features. But the old style flashlight apps (replaced with the iPhone 4 LED light) had very limited user functionality yet I have loads of them on my iPhone 3G. Which means that it is… yes another subjective policy.

One good thing to come of the limited user functionality issue is that it withdrew apps like “I am rich” which were very limited. I’m sure if I had that much money I would spend it on something useful and more pratical for showing off my wealth then an app a beginner could have made in about 10 minutes.

Lets try the app, Drive Train, that allowed you to control the BitTorrent client Transmission from your iPhone or iPod Touch. That was refused entry because:

…this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights. We have chosen to not publish this type of application to the App Store.”

But it didn’t download any data – a iPhone isn’t exactly much use for downloading 20gb movies onto it. So the app isn’t infringing any rights. But it controls an app that can so there is some logic there. Until you look at Remote – the Apple app to control iTunes from afar. Its important to remember the app its self isn’t downloading anything but if you illegally downloaded music and add it to iTunes then the same logic for blocking apps applies as it did to Drive Train and surely Remote should have been blocked. (This also highlights the bigger companies get favourable treatment problem)

The internet and developers don’t mix well, they don’t mix well at all. Any apps that allow unfiltered internet access are in dodgy waters. Previously they had to be rated 17+ if they had a UIWebView controllable by the user, thankfully this policy has been dropped but there have been weird cases before: a web screenshot taking app. It was approved as it was rated 17+ yet without an age rating I could have gone on safari and taken a screenshot, a bit inconsistent again.

Or there is the reported case of the twitter app that was refused because people were able to swear on twitter. These are one of the worlds most well know technology companies, some departments having their own twitter accounts yet they banned a twitter app for swearing.

Or how about the e-books app banned for inappropriate content because it had access to the Kama Sutra. Now lets make this clear, it had access to, it didn’t come with it pre-installed. The app in question had access to the gutenberg.org archives and the only way to find the “offensive” content was to manually search for it. At least in this case common sense eventually did prevail and the app was allowed, but it serves to show how extreme cases can get.

Apps that breach copyright are denied, as they should be. But are they all really denied or have some snuck through. There is an app that I won’t name but was brought to my attention recently that uses one of the core Mac OS programs as its title, and it isn’t made by or in any other way associated with Apple. If other apps can’t do it then why has this one snuck through the net?

I’ve have a friend who an app denied because he used a picture “resembling” an iPhone to refer to a mobile communications product, none other then the iPhone its self. Seems logical to me as I wouldn’t use a picture of a different phone to refer to the iPhone or iPod touch, it just wouldn’t make sense. But the reply informed him he had to change it which he did and resubmitted for the app to be approved. And using images that look like polaroid pictures, that might be bad news too as they are also copyrighted. But I personally wouldn’t know what else to use as a image to represent a picture, and the HIG states that it has to be clear and easy to use so having just a rectangle to represented a printed picture would probably breach that – I think we’re starting to get the idea that the whole process is very convoluted and appears to be pot luck for the developer.

…Lite cannot be posted because it is a feature-limited version. Free or “Lite” versions are acceptable, however the application must be a fully functional app and cannot reference features that are not implemented or up-sell to the full version.

But if that happened then none of the free “lite” apps would be around today would they? I mean nearly every free or lite app that there is references features that are not there. Its how they persuade people to upgrade. It’s the way of life which I’d rather have then have to pay for apps I just want to try because developers have just started charging for them all so they don’t have to deal with the app review policies.

By all means go for it and write your own apps but expect to be hit back by the swinging pendulum of the app review team policies and the luck of the draw based upon which reviewer you get. Feel free to comment with you reviews and curious reasons for rejections.

I admit I’m a online author so I’ll have my share of them but some people come out with the weirdest and quirkiest things ever while writing for online content.

If you want to throw something at a fellow student or a teacher then a mobile phone is too expensive and not particularly aerodynamic, so you’re better off getting your hands on a cricket ball or a javelin, both designed for the purpose and generally approved of on school premises.

– BBC News, Technology – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10635333

Well I never knew that one, I’d have thought that a phone would be the best object. I admit a cricket ball or javelin are both designed for the task and approved but people just don’t carry them around in the same way they carry a mobile around. And the people who throw bricks (cleverly shaped like a mobile phone) around? Surely they should have an expert opinion in the matter? I mean after all they would surely choose the best objects for throwing? I was always frowned upon for offering this sort of advice to people. After all who would say “wait up – that mobile isn’t ideal for throwing but if you lob this cricket ball it will work much better”. But at least it makes good reading which is what i want from the news 🙂

The iPhone 4, still in demand, the newest Apple device at the moment. What is all the chat about. Is it worth the time of day to buy?

Signal issues is the first thing many people think of when thinking of the iPhone 4, but I haven’t had too many of them. I admit if you wrap both hands right round the metal band around the edge then it drops off a bit but not noticeably, and the grip of death? Like Steve Jobs said earlier it happens on all phones. And its true, pick up that old nokia off the desk and yes it will lose signal if you wrap both hands around it. Fact of life, I know the science behind it but that can wait for a while – basically human bodies form a great barrier to mobile signal.

The screen. Absolutely amazing. Its so sharp individual letters on the icons are clearly visible, if you get an opportunity compare the contacts icon on the iPhone 4 with an old device, the difference is remarkable. The screen on its own creates a whole new product well worth paying for. The current issue is so many apps need updated graphics that are so clearly noticeable but they’ll come. Apple could really have done with an option for priority app checks if it was just graphics updates that were being pushed out to make the process quicker.

The native resolution of the iPhone 4 (left) and the iPhone 3G (right)

Compared with the 3G that used to be my primary device the iPhone 4 is much much faster, even with several apps open at the same time – multitasking doesn’t take the life out of it that I would have thought it might have done. But multitasking is absolutely great the ability to flick between apps without thinking twice about it – the number of times I’v been chatting to a freind on IM to be told to look at their facebook status – previously that involved exiting IM, opening facebook, looking, closing facebook and waiting for the IM to load up again, now they can be kept running as I flick back forth between them.

The camera is something old iPhones have lacked on, being beaten hands down my the majority of other phones, starting at 2MP, then 3MP but now it packs a 5MP HD rear camera and a 0.3MP front camera. That’s something to shout about now. The iPhone camera now meets most other mobile devices, and not many come with 720p video loaded in either. The front camera, great for video calling I suppose but not alot else, if I want to take a picture of myself the phone is turned round to reveal the polished back and that serves as a “viewfinder” – that takes a bit of practice but its dead easy once you get the idea. The rear camera comes with flash, a very useful little feature – not just for the camera but it serves as a torch too, long gone are the days of using a brightly lit screen to find your way around in the dark.

Facetime hasn’t been a great success for me but that could be because I haven’t been able to properly try it – unlike the Apple provided facetime service in America where you can ring up to try it out. But when more people get iPhone 4 then I’m sure that I’ll get to try it out and be able to report back properly. The only thing that gets me is it needs to be used in a wifi zone. Does that make it free? and if I was in a wifi zone the few people who I would Facetime with who also might be would probably be too so I’d pop iChat open and use that… but hey it is a cool feature, if not a bit gimmicky at the moment.

iMovie – yes I admit this is off the point but it’s hailed as a key part of the device, which is why I wasn’t expecting to have to pay for it, then again good things don’t come free. At £2.99 its moderately expensive but it does what it says on the tin, the metaphorical tin – app’s don’t come in tins, though it could be interesting if they did. Allowing you to quickly and effectively edit movies on the go it changes the standard moving image into a story. Some people would say “is the iPhone really suited to movie editing with the small screen and all that” the answer is: “yes it is”. It’s not the type of movie package you might find on a computer, there’s not one million and one effects and filters and little dials to adjust. Its simple and straight forward, select a theme, import content and work out how to add titles. Yes I did say work out. I haven’t yet. I did it once 🙂 but I have never managed to do it again. That seems to be a bit of an issue. If I can’t add titles then I can’t make a movie, well I suppose that putting images to music qualifies as a movie. But still titles are really helpful. They look great on all the videos on YouTube, yes you can upload the videos directly to YouTube in 720p HD, another feature heavily promoted.

But overall it’s the Apple iPhone 4, the new device of the decade. In my opinion it wipes the iPad out and is what a smartphone needs to be – a phone, a browser and a media centre. I like mine and I hope you’d think the same.

On a side note as I proof read this an ad came on the TV for none other than… the  iPhone 4

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